Nicolas Flamel appears as the owner of the Philosopher’s Stone in J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter novel.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Flamel is a real historical name used within the fictional wizarding world. The book describes him as an alchemist who created the stone with his wife, Perenelle. The stone can produce the Elixir of Life, allowing its drinker to live longer.
The historical Nicolas Flamel was a fourteenth- and fifteenth-century French scribe and manuscript seller. Later legends credited him with discovering the secret of alchemy, although historians have found no reliable evidence that he actually made a philosopher’s stone. Rowling drew on that long-standing legend for the novel’s mystery.
The stone is protected at Hogwarts and becomes the object sought by Voldemort and his followers. After the novel’s events, Flamel and Perenelle agree to destroy it, accepting that their extended lives must eventually end. The fictional account therefore combines a historical legend with the series’ magical mythology.